Played 27 holes today. Wasn't planning to, but one of my regular golf buddies who was on the practice green, saw me on the 14th and joined me there. He was just warming up by the 18th and wanted to play more, so I joined him for another nine. Shot 40/43/40. 43 on the back kind of pissed me off. I played better than that.

I'm sore right now, but with the cold weather forecast to return over the weekend, and expected to stay cold for another extended spell, figured I better take what I could get. It was high 60s today and kinda balmy. Ball didn't seem to travel as far as it did yesterday in dry 50s. There was 10-15 mph wind though. I was clubbing up all day.

I shot a decent 82 (par 72) on the Big Island of Hawaii, in perfect weather: i think 82 was the temp too, or around there, very sunny and clear and a bit of wind but nothing terrible.

This was after waking up to the sound of the emergency alert on my phone calling for imminent nuclear doom. So I kissed my wife and my okole (ie my rear-end) goodbye! It didn't seem real, but there it was written in black and white on the phone (with the warning sounds too). It took me 10-15 minutes to find out it was a false alarm, but it took the state 38 minutes to send another emergency alert message cancelling the first one!

That must have seemed surreal at the time. I was watching CNN as they covered the mishap all day. Felt terrible for those on the Island. Had to be the longest 38 minutes ever. Bet you really enjoyed your round today.

I shot a decent 82 (par 72) on the Big Island of Hawaii, in perfect weather: i think 82 was the temp too, or around there, very sunny and clear and a bit of wind but nothing terrible.

This was after waking up to the sound of the emergency alert on my phone calling for imminent nuclear doom. So I kissed my wife and my okole (ie my rear-end) goodbye! It didn't seem real, but there it was written in black and white on the phone (with the warning sounds too). It took me 10-15 minutes to find out it was a false alarm, but it took the state 38 minutes to send another emergency alert message cancelling the first one!

After that a couple of 3-putts didn't seem like a big deal.

Just looking at a screencap of the alert made my neck-hairs stand up. I am a little surprised that no heart attacks were caused.

Got out Saturday with temps in the mid 50's. It was a pretty good round with one of the worst blowup holes i've had in years. On the front 9, i was +1 through 7 then carded a 9 on a very straightforward par 5 (hooked tee ball into a river, very bad idea to try a 3 wood from the drop and topped it across the fairway, ok hybrid, wedge short to a greenside bunker, and 3 putts to top it off). But, i got it back together after that by parring 9 and shooting a 39 on the back for a 80; 78 ESC.

Nice bounceback. Pretty strong to shoot 80 with a quadruple bogey. Reminds me of that dude 'Player' back on oobgolf. Seems like every round he was going to shoot par until he had one double digit blow up hole.

Ahhh, Player. Those were the days. He was as full of shit as they come, but his bullshit alone was entertaining at times. He fooled none of us, but thought he was fooling us all. That was the entertaining part.

Played another 4 holes before work. Shot +1 with my driver attempting to make that much higher. I missed 1 GIR because I had some tree trouble with my approach. Hit my 60 yard pitch to 6' and missed.

I'm really getting a trend for me now.

Man I'm hitting my irons well
Man I'm hitting my woods terribly

I'm very seriously considering changing up my set by adding a 2i and dropping my 3w or even driver (probably driver as I can't hit it off the deck). If I can hit a 230+ yard iron like I'm hitting my other irons my driver really needs to worry about it's place in the bag.

I had a 77 in 45 degrees and 15 mph winds yesterday. Most tees were up. 11th tee was way up..... on the ladies tee box. I tried to reach with a 3W. Hit it long enough, but overcooked it. Ended up pin high, but 30 yards left in deep doo-doo. Ended in bogey. Short tees aren't always easier. As our old buddy CeeBee often says, "You still gotta get the ball in the hole."

Another 77 today. Better than the one last week, even with no birdies today. Came up short on 3 different birdie putts by a combined total of about 1 inch! Virtually all three were hanging over the edge. Greens were slow. Really hitting the ball well right now throughout my bag. Good distance all round, with all clubs, despite the 46* temps and 10-15 mph wind. Quite a satisfying round.

Posting season starts in a week. Hoping I can keep it up once the tees are back in their proper position.

+5 when adjusting for putting on the back 9 at Whistling Straits today.

Got desperate so gave virtual golf a try. Spent about 30 minutes on "the range" and 30 minutes playing. The chipping and putting are really goofy but other than that a not bad experience. I wouldn't choose it over playing but it's not a bad way to practice at all. And that is essentially how I practice these days, playing courses in my head without chipping and putting, so basically added some computer accuracy to my routine.

I continue to feel like I'm really hitting the ball well so I can't wait to play.

Best front nine at WM ever, I think. Had it going very well. Went for green in two on par 5 9th and came up just off green, 5 yards short of pin. Chipped to a couple inches to get up and down for birdie for a 36. And that included a snap hook into the woods on 7th, a 1-stroke penalty, and then 4 strokes with my provisional from the tee for a double bogey (mulli-par).

Played the back nine fairly well too. Missed 2 birdie putts by a hair and nearly eagled 14th with a GW approach to 4 inches. Unfortunately, standing on the par 3 17th I started to feel the pressure. Even so, hit a 7 iron to the center of the green leaving myself an uphill 25 footer. I choked thinking about my score. Left it well short and ended up 3 putting for bogey. Then, still reeling from that, drove my tee shot into a branch on the par 5 18th and it dropped directly down to the base of the tree, 120 yards off the tee. Actually was able to make a good 3W shot from there, but still had 220 uphill to the pin. I then choked again, and somewhat topped my 3W---worst 3W shot in weeks---and still had 130 uphill to the pin. Came up short in the bunker for my 4th shot, after clearing the bunker and rolling back. Made a nice bunker shot to about 6 feet, but missed the bogey saving putt. Terrible way to finish an otherwise awesome round. 36/40 for a round of 76, losing 3 shots on the last two holes. 3 birds today. With the exception of those two last holes and one snap hook on 7th, very clean play. I am playing some good golf right now.

I got to play this morning. Everyone was either working or expecting rain so I teed off at 8 and was done by 10:30 and I was taking my time.

I was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and shoot 79 by birdying #18. I stuck a GW from 105 yards into the wind to about 18" for the simple birdie.

Some of the best ball striking I've had in a while. But man the wind was whipping at the end. Check out holes 12 and 13. I hit 2 crisp pure irons. One a 123 yard 9i the next was a 185 yard 8i.

Throw in a 257 yard 4i on #10 and 2 300+ yard drives (one tying my longest ever recorded on game golf at 316, both on the same hole). I was smoking the ball today. To be fair the FW's were concrete because we haven't gotten much rain in the last week, and the grass hasn't grown in yet. And as I said the wind was kicking on the back 9 with that front getting ready to push through.

I was really concentrating on committing to my shot today. I noticed I had more poor shots due to being non-committal than I did simply because my golf swing isn't perfect. Of the really poor shots I hit today this is how the break out.

#2 drive - Wasn't committed to driver worried about hitting a solid push into the lake down wind. Obviously snap hooked it into the trees left. The trees I've mentioned on here before that are the big red X off the tee. The punch out was amazing (I had 6' between trees) I just hit it too good and it rolled into the water. Lead to a bogey on the easiest hole one that I birdie better than half the time when I'm not in the left trees.
#6 2nd. I wasn't committed to the distance I was going for and skulled one across the green. Amazing up & down for par, maybe my best up & down in the last 2 or 3 years.
#8 between clubs I decided to hit 5i and didn't fully commit to an aggressive swing, I flaired it out and got lucky to find the green.
#9 5i layup was just a poor shot. Wasn't a commitment issue.
#10 wedge - I was between clubs and trying to murder a LW (never a good result)
#11 3w - I wasn't sure if 3w or Dr was the play here. Pop hook 3w
#15 9i - I just hit it poorly.
#16 - between clubs I tried to "sell" myself that a high cut 5i would get knocked down by the wind and be the shot. I should have just hit 6i.
#17 3h - Again poor execution

So of the 9 really poorly struck balls 6 of them were the fact I wasn't committed to it when I was over the ball. Or I was trying to convince myself it was the right shot. 3 of them were just poor execution.

I'm hitting the ball so well right now. My irons are crisp, I'm pulling a lot of them but they are cleanly hit and straight or a slight draw. If I could just get the face open 1-2* degrees at impact I'd have a perfect baby cut that I like hitting. And to answer your question Beef, no I don't expect to be that precise. But I really don't like seeing a right to left shot. When I get my elbow in front of my body the face does what I expect and I hit a little cut.

Pulled my head out of my ass and pared the last 2 holes for another sub 80 round. This time at a harder course.

And #18 was so clutch, I intentionally tried to put a lot of pressure on myself to break 80, and I came through biggly. It's a replica of #18 at TPC Sawgrass. It was about 48* out and a 10-15mph breeze dead into my face. I smoked a draw driver around the corner. Not just the best drive I've ever hit on this hole, it's the best drive I've ever seen hit on this hole.

Of course I dumped a 7i from there into the green side bunker. It's damn near dead out of that bunker, straight down hill on greens that are firm and fast. I hit a perfect bunker shot to about 6' and roll it in for my par.

I could blame it on the 20 mph winds with gusts at 30+
I could blame it on the aerated greens

In reality I just did everything poorly today. EVERYTHING

I haven't walked 36 holes in a 30 hour window in a LONG time. Probably since high school. My legs just gave out on the 10th green. From there it was everything I could do just to put the club on the back of the ball. Walking a golf course is no joke. Combine the fact I was playing with another single in a cart, and he played quickly. I felt rushed to get to my ball so I was walking at a faster pace than. I don't think walking slower would have really changed much, but it did lead to me having less time to snack & drink water between shots.

76. When I made birdie on #14 I was even par. Stumbled a bit coming in but it was nice to experience what playing golf is supposed to feel like. Probably will shoot 103 in a few days but right now, I am content.